Southern California -- this just in

Student protests disrupt UC regents meeting at UCLA, other campuses

November 28, 2011 | 1:40
pm

Chanting student demonstrators disrupted a meeting of UC regents being held at UCLA and several other system campuses, forcing officials to move to other rooms to continue their teleconferenced gathering.

UC leaders attending the meeting by teleconference at UCLA, UC San Francisco, UC Davis and UC Merced were all forced to adjourn and reconvene elsewhere after small groups of demonstrators stood and began shouting and chanting. During their protests and an extended public comment session, student speakers expressed deep frustration over rising tuition costs and the recent pepper spraying of nonviolent protesters at UC Davis by campus police.

Security was tight at the four sites for Monday’s meeting. The regents were originally scheduled to meet in mid-November at UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus, but that session was canceled after police said they received word that planned protests could turn violent.

Regents wrapped up Monday's meeting after approving a proposal to request additional state funding for the 10-campus system, which they said could help avoid a tuition increase next year.

Also Monday, UC President Mark Yudof announced that former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso would chair a university task force that will review an investigation into the Nov. 18 incident in which police doused seated student demonstrators with pepper spray. That investigation will be led by former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton.